We were both awake at 5:15am since that’s typical and since we were both asleep at 9 last night, so we decided to head to Cades Cove (located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park) pretty early. Cars aren’t allowed on the loop until 10am each Saturday, so our goal was to make it there, do the 11 miles and be back on the way home prior to 10am – which we did.

It was kind of smoky, I guess, earlyish – but it turned into a beautiful morning.

I thought I was going to die most of the time. And Jon kept telling me to stop riding my brakes down the hills, which I couldn’t do because I was scared. And I walked up most of the big hills. And I obeyed the signs and walked the steep curves (and was THANKED by a ranger). And I almost fell off my bike trying to a avoid a rogue 2-year-old. And I felt very frustrated a lot of the time because I still don’t have a good feel for the gears and for riding, in general, and I wasn’t doing things efficiently.

But – I survived.

It took 1 hour and 45 minutes. The website I read a few weeks ago says this: … the full Cades Cove loop takes at least 2 hours to complete, most riders take 3 to 4 hours. So … I feel ok about the walking and the brake riding. I was drained, but Jon didn’t even seem to break a gd sweat.

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I ate breakfast in the car on the way. Pretty typical.

The blueberries semi-freeze the yogurt when mixed together. SO good.

We ate lunch when we got home – a bratwurst + sauerkraut.

Plus some yogurt + walnuts + honey. And a peach.

(I am having some intense carb (meaning bread + pasta)/sugar (meaning ice cream) cravings. I’m trying to curb it all with fruit and yogurt, but some drastic measures (like complete abstention, of which I am NOT a fan) may have to be taken to knock this out.)

We watched a movie (Gasland) during/after lunch. I fell asleep and slept for about 30 minutes of it, though – something I almost never do. It was nice.

Dinner tonight was supposed to be spaghetti squash + meat sauce. Then I requested a hamburger and sweet potato fries. Then it turned into spiced up ground beef w/avocado and a little cheddar cheese, a baked potato topped with butter, fage and jalapenos, and steamed asparagus. Just one of those days.

You should definitely do that! It was a lot of fun. I heard some people with kids saying they did the 5 mile loop with them. I wasn’t aware that you can bike the shortcut because I thought it was gravel/a little more treacherous, but I guess you can? I don’t know that I would take on even 5 miles with small kids, though!

I seriously have not had one un-frozen blueberry since I picked up the first bag of frozen ones!